Following a week’s worth of drama and major uncertainty surrounding Russia’s participation at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, the European Broadcasting Union, EBU’s Director General, Ingrid Deltenre, has spoken against the recent actions from Ukraine in the latest banning.

Over the past week following the surprise announcement of the banning of Russia’s planned participant for Eurovision 2017 Julia Samoylova, controversy has arisen with a number of ideas and negotiations being suggested by the EBU in order to find a solid solution to the ongoing issue.

The controversy continues this week as the EBU’s Director General, Ingrid Deltenre, has spoken out regarding the recent 3-year-long travel ban on Samoylova, implemented by the Security Service of Ukraine.

Speaking to Blick regarding the latest debacle, Deltenre discussed her disappointment at the latest controversy:

This behaviour of Ukraine is absolutely unacceptable.

I deeply regret the fact that the ESC is being abused for political action. The Eurovision Song Contest is supposed to delight and bring together millions of people; it must not be used to incite them against each other.

Currently, talks are supposedly underway in Geneva in which the EBU together with the Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and President Petro Poroshenko are in negotiations to find a satisfactory solution.

The recent set of negotiations include delaying the planned travel ban until after the competition has taken place this coming May, as well as the suggestion by the EBU of including a possible satellite feed in order to air the Russian performance live from her home nation, the latter of which has reportedly been rejected by the Russian broadcaster.

According to Blick, if a solution cannot be reached within the coming weeks in the lead up to the competition then potential sanctions could be made by the EBU against Ukraine, involving temporary exclusion from the competition. This has yet to be officially confirmed.

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Jessica was born and raised in the United Kingdom. Eurovision has been a huge part of her life for a number of years, getting to see the contest live for the first time in 2015. Jessica joined the ESCToday team in November 2013.